Last night they interrupted programming to warn of 2 inch hail possible (same state, did not materialize), first thoughts were of you and all the tobacco farmers/growers, then farmers in general. Seems nothing is easy in the AG bussiness. Hope for survisors and a speedy recovery.
The Story of Jessica's Fantastic 2014 =)
- Thread starter JessicaNicot
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Looking at your soil makes me regret not adding sand to my soil. It's on next year's prep list though. I found a cement company that will deliver and spread it for me.
I think recovery in that patch will surprise you. You did make a good point about the trimming. I will trim mine the night before transplant to make them more aerodynamic.
I think recovery in that patch will surprise you. You did make a good point about the trimming. I will trim mine the night before transplant to make them more aerodynamic.
skychaser
Well-Known Member
I was hoping to barrow that planting crew of yours in about 4 weeks but I think I have changed my mind. There is no one fussier than I am when planting time comes. Seeing that would NOT make me happy. :/
Getting them all in the ground in one day sure would be nice though. This year we are hoping to do it all in 2-3 days. Last year it took 5 days to complete. We have about 2500 plants to set out. About 1800 are tobaccos. I have a guy who has helped us do a few things around here the past couple years. He does a great job and is a hard worker, but he has a real problem telling time. If he says he will be here at 9, I assume it will be closer to 11. heh But he does do good work for us.
I hope you have a drier year than last year was for you. One nice thing about growing here is that I decide when it will rain and how much. (usually)
Getting them all in the ground in one day sure would be nice though. This year we are hoping to do it all in 2-3 days. Last year it took 5 days to complete. We have about 2500 plants to set out. About 1800 are tobaccos. I have a guy who has helped us do a few things around here the past couple years. He does a great job and is a hard worker, but he has a real problem telling time. If he says he will be here at 9, I assume it will be closer to 11. heh But he does do good work for us.
I hope you have a drier year than last year was for you. One nice thing about growing here is that I decide when it will rain and how much. (usually)
JessicaNicot
Well-Known Member
we had about 15 people total once everyone was there and we set about 4800 plants by hand, then a couple thousand more in 22 plant rows with a two row setter behind a tractor, and then about 450 more were set by hand. i think we worked from about 6am to 2pm (the station guys maybe 730 or 8, cant be sure), with about an hour for lunch.
Holy cow that's a lot of hand setting. Average is 350 plants per person in seven hours. I need four of those guys for about an hour and a half.
JessicaNicot
Well-Known Member
well when each person has their own individual task (making holes, running water, unbagging and setting out plants, covering the plants with soil), things tend to go much more smoothly like an assembly line.
JessicaNicot
Well-Known Member
even if things in the field aren't looking so hot at the moment, at least things in the greenhouse are going well so far with my species increases (besides the stupid thrips on the rusticas).
N. rustica
this quadrivalvis mutant is still by far my favorite. it takes the capsules a long time to ripen. they are kinda fat and round like rustica capsules and also have big seeds like rusticas. so far I haven't seen any open up like goblets, more or less just cracking along the seem between the two halves. the flowers are a light pinkish purple but that doesn't really show in the photo.
N. quadrivalvis
the plumbaginifolia opens up its flowers in the evening I think because they were open wide one morning at 5am in the dark when I was in there watering before we left to go planting down east. that leads me to believe that it must be moth pollinated in the wild, as the flowers seem to close during the day. the capsules are small, and some don't even appear to be brown before they have opened. they open up goblet style but I don't harvest them until they've been open about 2 days because the placenta hasn't even dried out yet when they first open. the seed is still somewhat wet and difficult to dump out of the capsule if you get them on the first day. (ive learned to not harvest the species capsules and just dump the seed out into an envelope. it saves a lot of headaches later.)
N. plumbagnifolia
N. rustica
this quadrivalvis mutant is still by far my favorite. it takes the capsules a long time to ripen. they are kinda fat and round like rustica capsules and also have big seeds like rusticas. so far I haven't seen any open up like goblets, more or less just cracking along the seem between the two halves. the flowers are a light pinkish purple but that doesn't really show in the photo.
N. quadrivalvis
the plumbaginifolia opens up its flowers in the evening I think because they were open wide one morning at 5am in the dark when I was in there watering before we left to go planting down east. that leads me to believe that it must be moth pollinated in the wild, as the flowers seem to close during the day. the capsules are small, and some don't even appear to be brown before they have opened. they open up goblet style but I don't harvest them until they've been open about 2 days because the placenta hasn't even dried out yet when they first open. the seed is still somewhat wet and difficult to dump out of the capsule if you get them on the first day. (ive learned to not harvest the species capsules and just dump the seed out into an envelope. it saves a lot of headaches later.)
N. plumbagnifolia
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What size pots are the Rusticas planted in?
chillardbee
Well-Known Member
The blooms on the Quadrivalvis are striking.
forumdotabaco
Well-Known Member
I'm also interested in the pot sizes can you tell us ? pots indoor will be the way to go for me to grab seeds.
AmaxB
Well-Known Member
Love your photos and the information, please continue.
NRustica
Well-Known Member
Aghhh! That's horrible. Hope the plants come back up. I hear they grow like weeds. 
leverhead
Well-Known Member
I asked her a similar question in post #43, here's her reply.....
http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/3919-The-Story-of-Jessica-s-Fantastic-2014-%29?p=71835&viewfull=1#post71835
JessicaNicot
Well-Known Member
I love when someone answers questions for me =)
Mad Oshea
Taking a break
I was going to ask You this a while back but forgot. There are a few of Us here that are giving FAST2GROW a test run and log. I used it last year and it was great. Have You used any in Your grows in the past? It is made with chicken poop. The plants I used it on looked nice like the ones You posted.
leverhead
Well-Known Member
I just quoted chapter and verse from the second book of Jessica : )
JessicaNicot
Well-Known Member
OK, so with my new phone (the galaxy s5) I tried to get some better images of the N. plumbaginifolia and N. quadrivalvis flowers.
These are images of N. plumbaginifolia. You can see that the flower is pure white inside but is pink on the outside. I do have another picture to share of the flowers open at 5AM yesterday but I haven't uploaded it off my phone yet. (for whatever reason they don't like to transfer by cable to my work computer so I just upload them to google drive and then download them to the computer, but the wifi in the building is hit or miss.)
These are the N. quadrivalvis flowers. you can see they make plenty of fluffy pollen. It was hard to get the camera to pick up on their pink-purplish coloring.
These are images of N. plumbaginifolia. You can see that the flower is pure white inside but is pink on the outside. I do have another picture to share of the flowers open at 5AM yesterday but I haven't uploaded it off my phone yet. (for whatever reason they don't like to transfer by cable to my work computer so I just upload them to google drive and then download them to the computer, but the wifi in the building is hit or miss.)
These are the N. quadrivalvis flowers. you can see they make plenty of fluffy pollen. It was hard to get the camera to pick up on their pink-purplish coloring.
skychaser
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Mine had a pure white flower and rounder petals. Your leaves are also rounder. Mine had narrower and more pointed leaves. I wish I had a close up of the flower but this is the best I have. If you zoom in on it you can see them fairly well. http://nwtseeds.com/Quadrivalvis_2.jpg
Do you know how many variations / varieties of Quadrivalvis there are? I read somewhere that two types Bigelovia (sp) was determined through genetic testing to actually be variations of Quadrivalvis.
Do you know how many variations / varieties of Quadrivalvis there are? I read somewhere that two types Bigelovia (sp) was determined through genetic testing to actually be variations of Quadrivalvis.
NRustica
Well-Known Member
Hey, what going on over there on the East Coast?
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